by Barbara Ebel
Bob tried to focus, but what Annabel had said continued to stalk his mind. He had camouflaged his surprise when she said she was meeting Dustin Lowe’s mother, but she’d made a point that their relationship was “ramping up.” It was difficult to appear as if he was neutral or happy about her dating him, but if it escalated further, the blow to his emotions would be awful. It was challenging enough to manage medical school while being in love with Annabel Tilson.
CHAPTER 7
“Come on, Oliver.” The dog’s tail swished back and forth and he boomed out a gregarious bark in anticipation of a walk. Annabel startled and dropped his leash.
“No, no. No barking for that reason. Sit.” She waited for his eyes to settle on her, and as he sat quietly, she praised him. “Much better; now let’s go so you can pee on your favorite tree.”
They bounded down the stairs and she gave Oliver ample time to sniff along the way as they headed in the direction of Pete’s. She would be annoyed at herself if she didn’t follow Stuart’s suggestion about giving Mrs. Lowe some trinket as a gift. It couldn’t hurt. However, she still needed to change for dinner; maybe Pete had something appropriate in his case of desserts.
Annabel fixed Oliver’s leash to the fence outside and stepped into the Café to the tinkle of the door bells above. Tables were joined together and a group of high school students were eating and socializing. She studied the items for sale, both in the see-through cases and shelves against the back wooden wall.
Pete come out from the kitchen. “Anything in particular I can help you with, Annabel?”
“Hi, Pete. I wish. Something small to bring someone I’m meeting tonight - Dustin’s mother. This is a last-minute thought. Maybe dessert for the two of them for later tonight?”
“That’s the boyfriend, right?”
She rolled her eyes and nodded.
“Just making doubly sure. Triply sure. Never mind; I’ll shut up. I may have the perfect treat. How about a fresh blueberry cheesecake? The chef made a dozen miniature ones today. Each is the perfect size for two servings and I can put it in an extra fancy box lined with pink paper.”
“You’re a lifesaver. I’ll take one.” She dug her credit card out while Pete boxed it up. “And add these.” She grabbed a box of chocolate expresso beans and chocolate-covered blueberries, which she and Bob appreciated when they were together. “Thanks, Pete.”
When Annabel ambled outside, now with a small paper bag, Oliver planted his eyes on her. Two girls from the social event inside were cross-legged on the ground, giving him their utmost attention. “He’s gorgeous,” one of them said. “Is he yours?”
“Yes. His name is Oliver.”
Oliver’s tail swiped the girl in the face. “If you ever need a dog sitter, I’ll take care of him.”
“Better yet,” the other one said, “if you ever need to give him up for any reason, I’ll take him!”
“Those are generous offers. In essence, he already has two owners, so he’s spread thin. It is ironic that we saved him from living in a shelter and from being euthanized. The list of people who can or would take care of him for us keeps growing.”
The two girls glanced at each other. “Wow,” the first one said. “When the time comes to get a dog, I think I’ll check the county shelter first.”
“I can’t do it right now,” Annabel said, “but when my career settles down, I’m going to keep two dogs. One from a shelter and a purebred dog of my choice from a breeder.”
The two girls giggled. In unison, they said good-bye to Oliver. As they scrambled back into Pete’s, Annabel overheard, “Okay, you get the purebred and I’ll get the shelter dog and they can be best buddies.”
Annabel grinned. “Oliver, you’re making people who meet you dog-crazy.” As they approached her apartment house and turned in to the staircase, she mumbled, “Now what should I wear?”
-----
In response to a knock, Annabel opened her apartment door at 7 p.m. “Police officers keep perfect time.”
“So do doctors.” Dustin leaned over and ruffled Oliver’s coat. “Hey, boy. Sorry we can’t take you with us.”
Oliver nudged his leash from the other side of the door handle and it dropped to the floor. He picked it up and tried to present it to them.
“I’ll see you later,” Annabel said and hung the leash back. “You mind the house.” She opened the refrigerator and grabbed the paper bag. Much to Oliver’s disappointment, the couple slipped out the door and Annabel locked it behind her.
Dustin glanced up and down. “By the way, you look great. You said you wouldn’t have time to doll up. You don’t need to.”
She glanced down at her outfit: a pair of sandals, a short-sleeved dress with a belt, and a touch of jewelry. Around her neck, and to the side, she wore a multi-pocketed flat bag with her personal items. With only a thin line of eyeliner and a touch of lipstick, her hair, looks, and figure spoke for itself.
“Thank you, and I’m looking forward to meeting your mom.”
“I had to double park.”
Downstairs, Dustin opened the car door and Annabel looked towards the back. “Hi, Vicki, I’ve heard all about you. Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise. I’m glad you could make it tonight. Between both your jobs, it must be difficult to schedule a date.”
Dustin popped in and cruised the car away from her street. “Somehow we work around our schedules. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you set your mind to it.”
Annabel grasped on to what he said. He seemed to have faith in their dating despite the complexity of their careers and her training demands. Her stomach churned with butterflies as she stole a glance. Unfortunately, from the side, she couldn’t see the flattering dimple in his chin.
Twelve minutes later, Dustin parked his Acura behind the restaurant and they made small talk to the front door.
“Good evening,” the maître d’ said once they were inside. “Would you like to sit at a table by the bar or on this side of the restaurant?”
Dustin squirmed. He couldn’t possibly sit in the bar area, where last time, they ran into a man Annabel had had a fling with. “We’ll take a booth inside.”
Vicki scooted into a black booth and Annabel sat across from her. She smiled at Dustin as he slid in next to her.
“Your son always takes this side,” Annabel said. “Any side that faces the main entrance so he can monitor what goes on. One time when we were together, his habit helped out the restaurant because, while I was doing the Heimlich maneuver on someone, he was catching a crook stealing from the register. I also happen to know that his trick comes in handy quite often while he’s working.”
Vicki smiled a mischievous grin. Annabel could now see the resemblance between mother and son, a subtlety across the cheekbones and their full mouths. She had a medium build with a thin waist and wore a loose cotton top. A dangling gemstone hung off a silver necklace above her chest. She took her glasses off and placed them to the side of the tablecloth.
“Ahh. You two must be thick as thieves. He ushers me around too while he polices the environment around us whenever we’re together. He only does that with people he loves.”
“Mom!” Dustin said and shrugged his shoulders.
Annabel quickly rose her glass of ice water and took a sip.
“So what kind of doctor are you studying to be?”
“I have yet to make that decision, but the time is drawing near. In the coming weeks, I must put in applications to land a residency spot and then match day comes in the spring.”
A female waiter stepped to the table. “Good evening. Would you like to order yet?”
“I think so,” Dustin said, nodding several times at Annabel.
She nodded back, knowing he understood her need to study. “How about your catch of the day, Cajun style, and asparagus.”
“And you, Ma’am?”
“The special,” Vicki said. “With the understanding I’ll be boxing some up for tomorrow.”
Dustin handed her the three menus. “I’ll take a medium ribeye and two house-favorite vegetable sides.”
The waitress bowed her head. “Any bread or wine in the interim?”
“Bring them on,” Dustin said. “Would you prefer white, ladies?”
“I’m skipping,” Annabel said.
Vicki tapped the wine list on the table. “Chardonnay.”
The woman left and Annabel began to relax much more. Dustin’s mother was friendly and she didn’t seem to be judging her.
Vicki spun right back into Annabel’s medical journey. “What area of medicine are you doing right now?”
“Pediatrics. But please tell me about yourself. I understand you work in a bank?”
“I do. The same one for eight years. There was one take-over, but I stayed on without a problem and I enjoy meeting customers at my window.”
“Sounds pleasant enough. Do you ever worry about being held up?”
“My son drove that possibility into my head. He says, ‘Toss over the money and not your life.’”
Dustin laughed. “Other than that, believe me, she has the last word about everything else.”
Vicki winked at Annabel, acknowledging her son’s statement. When the wine was poured, Annabel still passed, but she was so at ease, it already felt like she’d drunk a whole glass.
-----
“Feel free to drop me off at the house,” Vicki said back in Dustin’s car. “I’m tired enough to chill and you two can go on to Annabel’s place. Besides, if I want to keep up a conversation, I’ll have Solar to talk to.”
“My place is close, Mom, so I’ll drop you off.”
Dustin soon pulled up in front of his house.
“Take care, Annabel, it was nice meeting you.”
“You, too, Ma’am.” She reached down and handed Vicki the bag with blueberry cheesecake through the open window. “This is a little something for dessert, especially since we didn’t splurge at the restaurant. It should go in the fridge if you don’t get to eat any tonight.”
“How thoughtful of you, dear.” Vicki turned to her son, approval written all over her face.
Dustin unlocked the front door for his mother and strutted back. The dinner went well, he thought, and he heaved a sigh of relief that no man from Annabel’s past had showed up.
A few parking places were available on Annabel’s street, so Dustin parked across the street.
Annabel stretched one leg out of the Acura. “I should walk Oliver one last time. Would you like to join us?”
Dustin nodded. “The trials and tribulations of pet ownership. Is he proving himself worth it?”
“Of course. No different than your cleaning out Solar’s cage, which he seems to never be in.”
“I’m yanking your chain. Oliver is a sweetheart. A guy could get jealous over all the bonding you’ve got going with him.”
They stepped on the third floor landing and Annabel unlocked the door.
“Not to worry. I have a right and left heart. You know, two atriums and two ventricles. I hereby declare the right side to go to Oliver and the stronger left side is to be reserved for my male human love life.”
“Wow. That’s quite a proclamation.”
Annabel glanced at her watch and grimaced while Oliver’s feather duster of a tail greeted them.
Noticing her uncomfortableness, surely about study time, he decided to volunteer. “Why don’t you start your bedtime routine and I walk Oliver?”
She crouched down and gave Oliver a hug. “Dustin is going to walk you.” Springing up, she planted a kiss on Dustin. “Thanks and thanks for inviting me to dinner with your mom.”
“You’re welcome.” He pranced Oliver out the door, the two of them with enough energy to bolt downstairs and around the street to the neighborhood garden park.
Annabel changed into summery pajama shorts and a body-clinging top. She tossed her shoes in the closet and grabbed her pediatric paperback. Bob’s case he mentioned that morning had sounded interesting, so she opened up a chapter on “Type 1 Diabetes in Children.” Maybe she could give him some tips if his night on call was too busy to allow him to read. The condensed reading format of the topic was useful, and she absorbed quite a bit by the time she heard a rap on the door and Oliver bounded in to greet her before Dustin.
“Look at you. Dustin gave you a police officer’s top-notch training and exercise walk.”
Dustin replaced the striped leash on the door handle. “That’s a mouthful,” he said, standing between the bedroom and kitchen. His eyes took in Annabel as she rose to greet him.
She padded over in bare feet, but even she wasn’t sure if her motive was to see him to the door.
Oliver finished panting and lowered flat down. Dustin stepped over him and put his hands in her hair, behind her head. With a slight tug, they closed the gap, and his lips met hers.
He wrapped her body in his embrace and Annabel responded, circling her arms to his back and smoothing her hands along his muscles. Their mouths became hungrier and Dustin tucked his hands under the ribbed cotton top smack against her skin. Annabel felt as good as she looked and he picked her up like she was important cargo to take possession of. After lowering her on the bed, he yanked off his clothes faster than she could help him.
Swiftly, Dustin was on and in her and they drained all the passion they’d saved since last time. Even though her apartment was adequately air-conditioned, their bodies were laced with sweat.
Dustin rolled off, and he swiped his hand across his chest while Annabel slid her nearby top across her abdomen. “I think I’ll be needing a different top tonight.”
“Sorry about that.”
She rotated to the side. “Nothing to be sorry about. It was meant to be; we made our own bed.”
“Your bed. How about I do a sleep over and not disturb you? I’m three to eleven tomorrow. I can even take you to the pediatrician’s office in the morning.”
“If you can drive me first to Bob’s so I can drop off Oliver. He gets him tomorrow, since he’s post-call.”
“Sure.”
“Should you let your mom know you’re not coming home?”
“She’s probably sleeping already.” He touched her hand. “If she finds me missing, she’ll figure it out.”
“I’m jumping into the shower. When I come out, I’ll expect you to be fast asleep. Then I’ll finish the chapter I was reading. Deal?”
“Deal.”
CHAPTER 8
Linnell planted herself against the pole facing the ambulance bay of the ER. The pediatric team, as well as the emergency department, stayed steady with admissions. At least, she figured, they weren’t tremendously swamped on their first night on call, a time when the students were the most green about what they were doing.
For the time being, Bob Palmer was the student working up the newest patient with a resident. A little kid with a pale, sickly appearance came in with overbearing, demanding parents and she was glad she missed the opportunity to “learn” about whatever ailed him. Bob was a lot more patient and sympathetic than her, but hopefully, the next pediatric patient would be a snap because she was “up” next.
After the sun slid down a few hours ago, the temperature cooled down, mostly due to a perky breeze, which made her take more, deeper breaths than normal. It was like cleaning out a carburetor, or in this case, her lungs. The end of her cigarette glowed as she inhaled and, in a moment, she tapped the growing ash on the ground. She was guilty of mostly hiding or downplaying her cigarette smoking from the medical colleagues, residents, and attendings that she worked with. After all, a doctor was supposed to set a good example, but she didn’t think that entailed giving up every last thing she treasured in her life to appease the look of professionalism that was expected for someone taking the Hippocratic Oath.
Yes, she smoked, but she did try her best to keep it to a minimum. Chain smokers were the worst. Plus, taking the habit that far could cause her teeth to yellow or for people to sme
ll tobacco on her breath. No way would she ever burn through cigarettes like a chain smoker.
She savored the last puff while peeking around; best to make sure no one on her team had stepped outside the ER to escape for a moment, especially Bob. Only since starting the rotation with him did she realize that he was potential relationship material. At present, he had no girlfriend and she hadn’t dated since freshman year. He’d been a guy doing his master’s in engineering, and after that failed experience, she made up her mind to eventually marry her own kind - a doctor.
Linnell’s future was laid out and un-bendable for multiple reasons. Now all she needed to do was to find the right guy … much easier said than done. Fortunately, there was no ultimate hurry; she had time, but she needed to start whittling down the possibilities.
Her cigarette was down to the butt, so she flew it past the curb with a flick of the finger. She swallowed a lump in her throat and dug into an inside pocket for a peppermint. Stepping past the automatic doors to the waiting area, she hesitated next to a paper and magazine rack and popped the mint into her mouth. The prominent stack on top of the pile was a schedule for the county fair.
Nell picked up the schedule, basically a book of week-long events and what was entailed to participate or to attend. It contained little advertising from sponsors, and she remembered the past years she attended. It had been a few years back, but a true county or state fair was well worth a visit. From truck and tractor pulls, to livestock shows, to baking, agricultural, and beauty contests, it was that and so much more.
A light went on in her head as she mulled over the ice breaker she held in her hands. Their team would have off on Saturday after the next night on call and it would be the perfect day and event to try and steal Bob on a more personal level. Asking him to attend a fair would not come across as being too forward by asking him out on a date.
